Over two years after an online harassment case was initiated, well-known media personality and local broadcaster Jody Vance is a little bit closer to turning the page on this unfortunate chapter of her life.
However, that doesn’t mean that she feels justice has been served.
Last month, a default judgment was ordered in the harassment trial between Vance and her online harasser, Richard Sean Oliver. While the notice of civil claim dates back to March 22, 2023, the harassment goes back several years further, to 2016. The next step is calculating the damages that Oliver owes, which could take months to over a year.
Vance has worked at some of the most prominent media outlets in Vancouver, including CHEK, the CBC where she covered the Canucks Stanley Cup run, and at CKNW, where she experienced much of the harassment.
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Vance was unhappy with the initial punishment for Oliver, which some on social media called a slap on the wrist: 12 months’ probation after agreeing to a plea deal for criminal harassment. We asked if she felt any relief from the default judgment order.
“There is no relief from this default judgment, no. Perhaps it will come when laws are changed to see criminal harassment is met with swift and meaningful consequences? I hope for that,” she told Daily Hive.
The harassment included hundreds of “threatening and sexualized messages to me, my colleagues, and guests on radio,” Vance said at the time of the initial claim.
“My job and reputation were profoundly impacted by the inclusion of colleagues in each and every email sent.”
While there was no physical harassment, Vance said that every harassing communication she received was a “slap in the face.”
Vance feared for her and her family’s personal safety due to the harassment, going so far as to install security cameras in her home and changing her plates, even changing vehicles at one point.
In the civil claim, Vance wasn’t alone. The other plaintiff, named alongside her, was Jesse Miller from Mediated Reality, a social media education company. Vance said that without Miller, she wouldn’t have even known who her harasser was.
Still waiting for justice
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We spoke to Miller about the case and identifying Oliver, which he called a lengthy process.
“I wasn’t paying much attention to the emails or tweets being received as they were heading into my junk or flagged as spam, or I was taking them as a one-off based on his everyday behaviour of Twitter outrage. It wasn’t affecting me too much at the very beginning,” Miller told Daily Hive.
However, the tone shifted and became more serious, and he began corresponding with the CKNW team. They were able to identify a common thread between Vance, Miller and other guests.
It impacted Miller’s ability to make guest appearances.
“I started shying away from offering expert opinion on those shows and in media spaces because of the vitriol.”
The start of the attacks seemed to coincide with Donald Trump’s election as president for his first term. Police got involved and eventually got Oliver to stop sending Vance emails, but he continued to send her guests and colleagues emails of a similar nature.
Vance got to face her harasser after he pled guilty, and she had some words for Oliver during her victim impact statement.
“Your almost daily disgusting emails – with horrifyingly sexualized and threatening language – photoshopped images of me wearing a communist flag mask or starving prisoner in concentration camps — lead you here, to this guilty plea for criminal harassment,” a portion of the statement reads.
“I could spend hours recounting just how disgusting your obsession became toward a complete stranger,” the statement added.
We asked Vance what justice would look like.
“I remain optimistic that the BC Supreme Court will take action to better protect Canadians targeted by online criminal harassment.”
We also asked Vance if she had any advice for folks who might be experiencing online harassment like she did.
“Take action, immediately. Call your local police non-emergency line and report it,” Vance advised.
She added that victims should keep track of all the evidence, not just screenshots, but also emails with all of the data attached.
“Make very specific notes and diarize how it makes you feel. My hope is that one day soon, there will be deterrents in place to halt harassment in its tracks.”
Are the consequences for online harassment strict enough?
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Miller is a social media expert, and when we asked if the government or law enforcement needs to do more to prevent incidents like these from happening, he was hesitant to say yes.
“The more that we ask the government to intervene in these spaces, the more we censor the internet, which is obviously not necessarily something we want to do, and the bills that have been presented are too wide sweeping and reminiscent of Americanized rhetoric.”
While he doesn’t know for sure whether the punishments themselves are harsh enough, he said he echoes Vance in that the private experience of this affecting home and family requires more support. He added that police did a good job of offering support, such as victim services.
Vance echoed those sentiments, saying that VPD detectives and victim services played a big role in helping her through the toughest times of her Crown case. Miller feels like a lot can come from other service providers, “especially our telecom providers and more so the (social media) platforms themselves.”
“Do they have an honest responsibility to make social media a safer space for people? It’s a question that’s important, but keep in mind, this was a multifaceted approach by Oliver to hear us on terrestrial radio, use social media to target us, and then use email directly to cause harassment and fear,” Miller said.
“Do we regulate all of that, or do we just hope that we’re going to have better human beings in the next round of digital citizens, who don’t want to commit crimes like this?”
Despite the default judgment, Vance’s fight isn’t over, and she plans to keep pushing for changes.
“What motivates me all these years later is to see my fight for justice help create a system that protects victims being targeted, a system where deterrents exist. Immediate deterrents, like fines or traffic tickets. Once someone says ‘stop,’ it should stop – if it doesn’t, ticket,” she said, adding that it should hit the wallets of harassers, or affect their credit scores, or their ability to get a licence.